Oct 22, 2007 1:08 pm US/Mountain
Aspen Jumps On The Craft-Beer Wagon
ASPEN, Colo. (AP) ―
Aspen is finally jumping on the craft-beer wagon, with three young entrepreneurs planning to open the Aspen Brewery in December.
Although craft-beer breweries dot the state, this upscale resort town had been left out until now.
Duncan Clauss and Rory Douthit, both 22, and Brad Veltman, 23, have signed a three-year lease on a 2,000 square-foot space and plan to offer up to eight original brews.
They expect to sell most of their beer in local restaurants, bars and liquor stores.
"We've talked to the liquor stores and we've gotten a really good reception," Veltman said. "There's no local beer here and we're pretty optimistic about it."
Their manufacturing-wholesale license will also let them serve beer and sell it in take-home "growler" bottles at a tasting room. They hope that will make the brewery a draw for tourists.
"Ideally, it will be a locals' hangout, and people flock to where the locals are," Clauss said.
They hired Jason Courtney, 38, as their brewmaster.
Veltman said he and his partners sought advice from longtime Aspen businessman George Stranahan, co-founder of Denver's Flying Dog Brewery.
"He gave us a thumbs-up," Veltman said. "He said Aspen is ready for a brewery and him giving us approval is huge."
The trade group Beer Institute reported in September that Colorado had overtaken California as the nation's biggest beer-producing state, brewing 23.3 million barrels of suds last year compared with 22.8 million barrels in California.
Colorado has two major breweries, MolsonCoors in Golden and Anheuser-Busch in Fort Collins. It's also home to such craft brewers as Fat Tire-maker New Belgium in Fort Collins and Oskar Blues in Lyons.
(© 2007 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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